Instructions for Sourdough Baking
Making and Maintaining Sourdough
For the first "commissioning":
- Stir the sourdough starter with some water in a glass.
- As soon as a homogeneous, waffle dough-like mass has formed, add about 6 tablespoons of water and 4 tablespoons of sourdough starter feed and stir well.
- The mixture begins to bubble after about 3 hours and is then ready for use.
Important
To avoid having to start from the beginning every time:
- The starter must continue to be fed in the future: either once a day at room temperature (if you bake every day) or up to once every 7 days if in the refrigerator.
- To store in the fridge, feed the mixture and then put it straight into the fridge. The next time you use it, take the mixture out of the fridge, feed it and wait until it starts to bubble. (Approx. 3 hours)
prepare the pre-dough
If you have a starter that bubbles well after feeding, you can begin:
To do this, prepare a pre-dough with
- 4 tablespoons of mixture
- 100g light flour mix or rustic flour mix
- 250ml water (lukewarm).
Place everything in a coverable container and leave to ferment for 8-12 hours (room temperature).
main dough
The main dough is prepared as follows:
- Whole pre-dough
- 4 tablespoons additional starter
- 500g light flour mix or rustic flour mix
- 750ml water (or enough to give a good, slightly sticky bread dough consistency) in a mixing bowl.
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of salt
- Optional: Spices to taste, approx. 1-2 tablespoons e.g. fennel, caraway, coriander
- Knead well(!) or use a food processor to knead until the desired consistency is achieved. Kneading gives the dough its elasticity. The finished dough should be able to "stretch" a little, i.e. be very elastic. Guideline: around 10 minutes with a food processor/dough hook.
- Cover and let rest at room temperature for 3 hours
baking preparation
- Carefully shape the dough into the desired shape (roll, loaf of bread, baguette, pizza base...). Do not knead it too hard, otherwise the "fluffiness" will be lost.
- Important: Do not form dough pieces that are too large, as baked goods made from Tobio flour mixtures contain more water than comparable grain doughs. During baking, a lot of the water must be able to evaporate again and if the dough pieces have a thick cross-section, this will be difficult. So: Maybe start with Vinschgerl or baguette, so that the first attempt goes well!
- When shaping, sprinkle some of the Tobio flour mixture used on the baking tray and on your hands to prevent stickiness and for the later crust.
- Cover the dough pieces with a cloth and let them rest ("proof") for 1 hour.
Weight guidelines for dough pieces
- Bread rolls / rolls: 75g - 90g
- Baguette, root bread...: 400g - 500g
Bake
- Preheat oven
- As soon as the temperature is reached, place the dough pieces in the oven and bake depending on the volume until the crust is hard.
Guideline values temperature / duration
- Bread: approx. 60min at 220°C
- For smaller “rolls” 200°C / 30min is sufficient
- After baking, take the finished baked goods out of the oven and let them rest for about 1 hour before cutting them
tips
The finished dough can also be kept in the fridge for a few days - this makes it even finer and more elastic and it's also practical: you can always have fresh dough in the fridge and take a piece out of it when you want to bake. The rest stays in the fridge... This can go on for days...